No good reason for our over-crowded prisons
Numerous recent articles have discussed what is undeniably an ongoing human rights crisis inside Georgia’s prisons and jails. Curiously absent from the analysis, however, is that Georgia is a worldwide leader in incarceration or that the clear and obvious solution is decarceration. Decarceration is the most effective and evidence-based way to address poor staffing ratios, overcrowding and premature death. Roughly 40% of incarcerated individuals, including a growing geriatric prison population, pose zero public safety risk.
As a medical provider who researches the harms of carceral facilities, I think it is clear that Georgia’s carceral addiction has not made us safer and continues to undermine the health and safety of all. Incarcerated people are family and friends to many, and 95% of them will be coming back to our communities. We urgently need life-affirming investments, not endless funding for ineffective, unaccountable punitive bureaucracies.
MARK SPENCER M.D., ATLANTA
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE, EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
Student success begins at home, continues at school
It is a sad day in Georgia when people think that going to a “private school” will improve a child’s chance of success. Children must be taught good study habits, respect for peers and authority to improve. Parents have the first chance to give their children good habits and responsibility.
Parents need to get involved in school, make their presence felt, and support discipline and respect for all. That is what contributes to success, not the school. Dedicated teachers can do their jobs when they have the support of parents. When a child does not behave, the parent should be called, and the child should be sent home.
CAROLYN CALHOUN, ATLANTA
PSC slow to point Ga. Power in ‘green’ direction
I agree with Public Service Commissioner Tim Echols that “Georgians want an electric grid they can count on” (AJC, April 21), but he told only part of the story.
Coastal Georgians do not want their properties damaged by rising sea levels. Georgian farmers do not want their crops devastated by severe weather. Urban Georgians do not want increasing numbers of heat waves. The Public Service Commission’s recent permit for more electrical generating capacity, including 70% with climate change-enhancing dirty fossil fuels, is very short-sighted. The PSC has been slow to encourage Georgia Power to go in the right direction. Echols, for example, mentioned adding a battery energy storage system (BESS) at solar power sites. Yet, Georgia Power’s first BESS is only just coming online, and this one has enough storage power for about 1% of solar capacity installed statewide — enough energy to power only about 626,000 homes.
The PSC should have started planning for clean energy more than a decade ago. Georgians deserve better service.
DAVID GREENLAND, SANDY SPRINGS
State budget data supports Medicaid expansion
The April 19 article “Brian Kemp on Georgia Medicaid expansion in 2025” quoted Gov. Brian Kemp as saying that full Medicaid expansion will “increase your short-term costs and your long-term costs.” I’d like to see the data and analyses that underlie his assertion. Also, when he said “your,” to whom was he referring?
On the other hand, I have reviewed the data and analyses provided by the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. They concluded that full Medicaid expansion would be great for Georgia. It would insure the uninsured, create jobs, support struggling rural healthcare systems, return Georgian’s federal tax dollars to Georgia and more. If they are wrong, please convince me with data and facts.
Meanwhile, as politicians shilly-shally, Georgia continues to be a leader in maternal mortality, premature births, the number of hospitals close to failing and the percentage of uninsured citizens. How much is not expanding Medicaid costing us?
DUANE M. FORD, COVINGTON
